Ford's Classmate Backtracks After Saying Attack 'Did Happen'

A former classmate of Christine Blasey Ford has changed her tune a bit after initially stating, "This incident did happen" in a Facebook post about Ford's allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. You can see a screenshot of Cristina King Miranda's Wednesday post, which has since been deleted, here; in it, Miranda says she knew Ford, Kavanaugh, and Kavanaugh's friend Mark Judge (who Ford says was in the room during the alleged assault) in high school and describes a "completely out of control" drinking environment. She says she was one of the more than 200 alumnae of Maryland’s Holton-Arms School who signed an open letter supporting Ford, and that "many of us heard about [the Ford-Kavanaugh incident] in school." But in a new interview with NPR, Miranda denies knowing whether the assault happened.

"That it happened or not, I have no idea. I can't say that it did or didn't," Miranda says. "In my [Facebook] post, I was empowered and I was sure it probably did [happen]. I had no idea that I would now have to go to the specifics and defend it before 50 cable channels and have my face spread all over MSNBC news and Twitter." She says she played soccer with Ford and that she still supports her and believes her, but she wasn't expecting to be contacted by staff from the Senate Judiciary Committee after posting on Facebook. She says that if the committee asks to interview her, she will decline. She also posted on Twitter (though her account appears to have since been deleted) that she does "not have first hand knowledge of the incident" Ford describes. But, she tells NPR, she remembers a "buzz" going around involving a serious incident at a party involving students from her school and Kavanaugh's school. (More Christine Blasey Ford stories.)